The Warner Sunset album of 2005 is a regular U.S. release. The 2011
Warner set is a limited edition of 2,000 copies, sold for $500 primarily through
the official site of the album. Consult with the separate review of that set for
more details about its availability.

Buy it... if you desire small doses of Danny Elfman's majestic
side that trade in the electric bass for a large bass string section and
return to the magic of his early works, even if this material exists in
the minority of the score's wild ride.

Avoid it... if a certain continuation of schizophrenia in Elfman's
style, especially in the inclusion of songs featuring the composer as a
human kazoo, leaves you seeking other scores in which to hear his more
consistently raw emotional tendencies.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: (Danny Elfman)
Despite Tim Burton's best intentions to once again enter the imaginative
world of a child, the release of his remake of the famous Roald Dahl
book happened to coincide with the spotlight of Michael Jackson's 2005
child molestation court case. And, of course, it doesn't help that
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is about a reclusive adult who
creates a "neverland" in the form of a chocolate factory, invites select
kids into his playground, and, oh yeah, seems to have the same wardrobe
designer and make-up artist as Michael Jackson himself. Despite those
awkward connections, nearly everything about Burton's Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory was a success, including a faithful adaptation of
the book and the spectacular visuals, and the film steamrolled to tasty
financial delights for the studio that topped Burton's career best. But
then there was lead actor Johnny Depp in the title role, so suspiciously
similar to Michael Jackson in appearance, mannerism, and setting. No
matter how many times he and Burton assured audiences that his
performance as Willy Wonka was only coincidentally similar to Jackson,
there remained the cloud of Jackson's perversity over this film for
adults. Children likely wouldn't care, for the film tackles Dahl's
material in the same general, enticing musical form as the 1971 Gene
Wilder film adaption of the book. The collaboration between Tim Burton
and Danny Elfman had spanned three decades and nearly a dozen films as
of 2005, and by this time there was no doubt in any critic's mind that
these two men are operating on the same creative wavelength. Both enjoy
portrayals of reclusive, alienated, or otherwise troubled characters in
abnormally colorful and outlandish surroundings (especially if shrunken
head or whole shrunken people are involved), and Wonka's world is well
served by both. For Elfman, 2005 represented a return to the realm of
the musical, finally touching upon the magic that had brought him so
much residual success with The Nightmare Before Christmas,
working concurrently on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and
Corpse Bride (but never really recapturing the truly unique
spirit of the Pumpkin King).

Elfman roots the musical center of his score and songs for
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the Oompa Loompas, the
freaky army of workers loyal to Wonka's operations, and when not
producing chocolate, these little guys seem to have been studying
Bollywood and the history of music from around the world in their free
time. It is their songs that open the album, and their jungle-like music
that occupies the flair in the soundtrack's latter half. The opening
song on the album, "Wonka's Welcome Song," written originally for a
trailer to the film, is a "happy worker," Pee-wee-inspired piece that,
if not for the elf-like manipulation of multiple Elfman vocal
performances, would remind of the insufferably bright and positive "be
happy" music from THX 1138 (now there's a creepy thought). The
following four songs represent the children who are to be punished by
Wonka throughout their tour, and as they are performed in silly rock
band numbers by the Oompa Loompas, these songs also feature Elfman as
the sole performer, requiring the talented singer to record endless
overlays and have a fair number of them manipulated in pitch. The
structure and genre of the songs vary appropriately for each character's
flaws, from the Bollywood big band number for the gluttonous kid, the
Bohemian rhapsody for the video gamer, and 1970's-era funky street-cool
dance piece for the competitive gum-chewer, to the overly simplistic
chord progressions of the 1960's ballad for the spoiled brat. All of
them contain underlying references to the Bollywood connection,
reportedly an original intent by Elfman and Burton that carries through
in the Indian influences that reveal themselves to various degrees in
each song. Since the Oompa Loompas are played by the same actor and
therefore should have multiple performances of the same voice in various
counterpoints, Elfman's performances all exist in the same sort of whiny
pitch that is best described as a "human kazoo." While necessary, the
most unfortunate aspect of these performances is the fact that we never
hear Elfman's fantastic natural singing voice (in fact, only rarely can
you even identify one of the voices as his), and the human kazoo effect
is extremely annoying at times. Thus, however clever the songs are in
structure, the outrageously layered vocal performances cause them to
become unbearable in pitch.

Using outlandish songs as an accent to a production, as
was the case in Flubber, can work wonders with Elfman's score
material, but in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the songs
traverse far too close to the poppy Spy Kids culture of
cross-genre wildness that detracts from the score. Then again, as needs
be mentioned in reference to both this score and Corpse Bride
later in 2005, an admiration of Elfman's talents is a basic given in
these kinds of projects. In this film, it is the score that will keep
his fans more entertained than the genre-busting songs. Any opportunity
for Elfman to score a film that contains a sense of magical alternate
realities is an opportunity not to be missed, and in this half of
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Elfman's fans will not be
disappointed. Even without the lengthy expressions of raw emotional
power that made scores like Edward Scissorhands such an
attraction, this music is a fine work of execution that contains just
enough easy harmony to hold the interest of even casual Elfman
collectors. His title theme for the factory is robust, appearing several
times throughout the large-scale orchestral score. In the titles, the
theme is unfortunately partially blocked out by electronics, kazoo
vocals, regular vocals, and light percussive tingling used as
counterpoint (perhaps a few more horns and trombones would have helped),
but subsequent performances, including the outset of "Wheels in Motion,"
are a little more transparent. There are a couple of interesting aspects
to this theme, first in its extremely long-lined phrases that suggest
the rolling machinery of a factory and second in the latter half of the
theme's similarity to vintage John Williams suspense melodies. After
delving into the musical worlds of East India (the sitar in "The Indian
Palace" stands out) and the jungle drum rhythms of the Loompas (in which
these guys really do sound like stereotypical island natives, complete
with clanging metal while they're rowing on the river), Elfman reduces
the use of synthetic manipulation and the electric bass in favor of
straight forward orchestral action in the latter half. The second "River
Cruise" cue has distinct rhythmic elements from Jerry Goldsmith's work,
and don't be surprised if the strings in this cue remind you of The
'Burbs. A continuing Planet of the Apes technique is heard in
the slurring of electronic tones in "Chocolate Explorers," a move that
adds a seemingly appropriate edge of mechanical mystery to the
proceedings.

A number of elements in Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory connect back to his fan favorites from the 1990's. The use
of organ and occasional "la-la" vocals will recall some of the deep
theatrics of the Penguin's material in Batman Returns. Elfman's
magical high-range choral techniques are combined with factory rhythms
of deep brass and snare to often form outstanding crescendos of harmony
rarely heard in his scores of this era. This, along with a minor-third
rhythm that sometimes precedes the main factory theme, are both
foreshadowing of better development in Alice in Wonderland. The
finale cue may not feature Elfman's best culmination of emotional,
Edward Scissorhands-like majesty in the 2000's (Family Man
still proves superior in this area) and a few of the chord progressions
are remarkably familiar, but the tenderness is neatly satisfying. The
end credits track features the instrumental backgrounds for the five
songs at the start in snapshot succession, with an abrupt stop and a
Loompa group giggle at the end, a somewhat disappointing neglecting of
the score's various ideas. In general, Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory is a very strong effort from Elfman, with an increase of
quality as the soundtrack's album progresses. His niche in this fantasy
genre was even more strongly affirmed, increasing anticipation for
subsequent collaborations with Burton. Still, there are several flaws in
this work, including Elfman's continuing loss of the ability to present
his schizophrenic styles in convincing narrative fashion to the older
generation of score collectors, with perhaps his replacement of bass
strings with an electric bass serving as the symbolic divider (when he
does use deep bass strings in this score, it begins to flourish). The
electric bass for Elfman sounds best for projects of modern funk like
Men in Black and sucks some of the magic out of cues when used in
the comparatively classical applications of fantasy. Both are used here,
but the bass strings take over for all the pertinent, fully orchestral
statements of theme. Because of the mechanical nature of the factory,
the score is once again a rhythmically driven affair, leaving the long
strokes of heartbreaking themes waiting for another day (Alice in
Wonderland, more specifically). Both "Charlie Declines" and "Finale"
go through all the motions of Elfman's preparations for a massive
crescendo of melody, including tingling piano, bells, and plucked
strings, but they never transcend to the levels his fans inevitably want
to hear.

Also detracting from Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory are a few curiosities involving the songs, which despite
their technical ingenuity, are a difficult listening experience. For
instance, where's Charlie's song? Certainly, his character would be
right up the alley for a softer song of lament that Elfman loves to
write. Doesn't this seem like a major omission? Also, why aren't the
themes from these songs more clearly evident during the
character-specific moments in the underscore? The connection between
songs and score is weak at best, and Elfman later confirmed that a
conscious effort was made to completely segregate the two halves of the
soundtrack. The original 2005 album from Warner included 54 minutes of
material but did somewhat short-change the score, with a few notable
cues absent from that release. In 2011, Elfman collectors were presented
with "The Danny Elfman and Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box," a
collection of music in the collaboration (reviewed separately at
Filmtracks) that includes one CD of expanded treatment specifically for
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and several demos and worktapes
on other CDs showing the evolution of the songs along their journey
through production. About twenty additional minutes of score is included
on CD #11 of that set, sadly not in chronological order but finally
filling the holes in the commercial album's presentation. Interestingly,
none of this material really sheds more light on the primary theme in
the score, instead acting mostly as a somewhat nebulous collection of
filler cues. There are a few choral cues of interest in this newly
released assembly, including "Charlie's Jackpot," "Moms and Dads," and
"Escape to Fudge Mountain." The optimistic duo of "The One and Only" and
"The Better Montage" is also worthy of consideration. Outside of
"Chocolate River," though, Elfman doesn't provide more elaboration on
the Loompa material. Cues like "Violet's Transformation" and "Mike's
Zapped" lead the majority of music in this section that represents the
score's suspenseful half. These bonus tracks desperately needed to be
included in a chronological presentation, though at least the massive,
$500 set's sound quality for this score still maintains the somewhat wet
mix (compared to Elfman's previous scores) of the prior product. In the
end, don't let the advertisements of the songs or legacy of this
soundtrack as a "musical" fool you. In the case of Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory, it's the substance of the underscore that carries
all the weight when the music is separated from the film. @Amazon.com: CD or
Download

Music as Written for the Film: ****

Score as Heard on Album: ****

Songs as Heard on Album: **

Overall: ***

Bias Check:

For Danny Elfman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.22
(in 73 reviews)and the average viewer rating is 3.2
(in 129,013 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

The insert of the 2005 Warner Sunset album includes lyrics and extensive
credits, but no extra information about the score or film. The 2011 Warner set
features some notes from Elfman about his choices of music for inclusion on the
product.